Shiawase Tres

[isdf]

Who: Class of Shiawase and visitors
When: August 23-September 21
Where: Dormitory (Shiawase)
What: Meetings and visits . . . galore?
Warnings: Hallucinations, mentions of decapitation

Comments

[isdf]

[Is that what it is?

Regardless, he understands that Mark is afraid of failure. He, too, would despair if somebody died as the result of his incompetence. Such an outcome would be unbearable.]

Optimizing our performance now will reduce the margin of error in the future. In that way, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of its own.

[He looks over his shoulder at Ena, who's no doubt grousing at somebody over another collision. People will probably get hurt. Yuma might malfunction at a critical moment, forcing Mark to cover for him. Death looms ever over them, but he believes they can tip the odds in their favor by sharing in their burdens and responsibilities.]

Furthermore, we are a team. If you falter, one of us will step up to bear that weight until you rise again. That applies to all of us: Nobody here wishes to see anyone lose their life.

[titlecard]

[ Self-fulfilling prophecies can be good?

Mark follows Yuma's gaze before looking back to him. It's true, that they're a team. Also true: he has avoided teams. Maybe that started out as his dad's influence, but it's a system that makes significantly more sense to him these days. If he falters then someone else will step up to bear that weight but there is no replacement for him—

And he shakes his head, because that's where he's wrong. Between himself, Yuma, and Yuffie, his skill set is actually the most replaceable. He has the least to offer.

If he thinks about it, it's actually freeing. Whether he's thinking about it or not, most of the tension drains out of him, his body relaxing. ]

You're right. Everything you're saying — you're right. I just needed the reminder, so... thanks, Mamoru.

[ This would be the part where he'd clasp his shoulder or something, but that would involve physical contact, and at the moment that might be a bit much for him. So instead, a smile. ]

You're really good at this.

[isdf]

[All of it—Mark's gratitude and smile, as well as the compliment—spreads Yuma's lips into a cheery smile. If a reminder is all the former needs, he'll always provide it.]

I have everyone here to thank.

[That includes Mark, who was the first to extend a hand back at the detention room. Adrift so soon after his own death, that hand felt like a lifeline amid a sea of uncertainties. Not for the first time, Yuma wonders how he never managed to see it until then.]

There was a time I shunned teamwork, thinking that it would only shackle me. I have since realized that things are easier when working with others.

[titlecard]

[ Things are so different, aren't they? Teamwork should hold him back, but that's not the case here. Not with an enemy that seems undefeatable; not with ghosts. It's a hard reset he has to do — teamwork is not shackling. Things are easier when working with others. As evidenced by the fact that he can acutely feel the others' emotions when they touch, he is not alone.

He isn't. He isn't. Maybe that makes it better or maybe that makes it worse, but ultimately it doesn't matter, because that is the cards they have been dealt are that they are not alone.

His smile broadens a little, closer to matching Yuma's. ]

We'll keep helping each other, then. When we slip up or forget or need it — and, god willing, we'll all make it out of this okay.

[ A beat. He nods to himself. ]

I'm going to try again.

[ He is going to get it right, at one point or another. ]